Routine
by matchynishi
Summary: Kurama gets some rather startling news. And then decides to have as much fun with it as possible. Light KuramaBotan in the later chapters. For Kellenanne.
1. Chapter 1

For Kellenanne. I hope this makes you feel at least a _little _bit better. :hugs:

A/N: There _will _be some Kurama/Botan in later chapters.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own YYH.

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Chapter 1: Routine

The bright sunlight shone over the bustling city of Tokyo, golden rays sliding over tall buildings and busy roads alike. On the side of the road, two youngsters, a black-haired youth and a girl with an unusual shade of blue hair were walking, arguing vociferously among themselves.

"Still, Botan," grumbled the boy, rubbing the back of his head and suppressing a wince. "You could've warned me," he said reproachfully as he turned an accusing eye on the girl walking beside him.

"I did!" Botan retorted hotly. "It's not _my_ fault you were too busy staring at her chest to notice." Botan rolled her eyes at the distraction that bloomed on Yuusuke's face at her words.

"As perfectly stare-able as it was, too," said Yuusuke, with a dreamy expression on his face.

Botan shook her head in exasperation. "Yuusuke..."

Yuusuke turned back to her with a grin, taking in the simple sundress that the deity had on and eyeing her up and down, the mischevious grin slowly changing into a leer. "You could join us sometime, you know," he drawled, winking at the startled deity. "I don't think Keiko'd mind all that much."

Botan twitched. A second later, Yuusuke was lying on the ground, clutching his head and moaning in pain. "Dammit, Botan!" he shouted, as he sat back up, rubbing his aching head and glaring fiercely.

"You deserved it!" Botan had her hands on her hips, glaring down at Yuusuke. "Can't you stop being a pervert for even two seconds?"

"Hey, don't blame me, it's all my adolescent demon hormones waking up," he grinned at her as he stood up, dusted himself off and started walking, hands behind his head.

"Yuusuke, you were like this long before the demon part of you had been woken up!" Botan glowered at him.

"...There was always my _human_ teenage hormones, you know," Yuusuke pointed out, after a thoughtful pause.

Botan pursed her lips. It was pointless to argue with Yuusuke when he was like this. Which was, regrettably, nearly all the time.

"Hey, look!" Botan's eyes snapped up at the exclamation to look at Yuusuke, who was flailing his arms wildly about like a circus performer. She giggled. It never ceased to amaze her how someone who could fight as well as Yuusuke could look so uncoordinated in normal life. "It's Kurama! Oi, Kurama! Wait up!" shouted Yuusuke, still waving his arms madly at the youth walking some distance in front of them.

This time, her eyes looked in the direction Yuusuke was pointing. Sure enough, she glimpsed a flash of red in the crowd. Yuusuke grabbed her arm and pulled her after him mercilessly, resulting in Botan stumbling rather ungracefully behind him.

"Ow! Yuusuke, leggo, that hurts!"

Yuusuke finally lurched to a stop in front of a rather startled red-haired youth, letting go of Botan's hand and completely ignoring the deity's complaints. She glared up at him, rubbing her aching wrist.

"Hey, Kurama! Lucky we bumped into you here, huh?" Yuusuke grinned. "Now we don't hafta walk all the way to your house just to say hi."

"Hello, Kurama-kun!"

"Good evening, Yuusuke," Kurama's eyes wandered from the grinning face of Yuusuke to the cheerful Botan. "Botan, you're looking lovely."

"Thank you, Kurama-kun," Botan smiled back at him.

"Hey! How come _he_ gets a 'Thank you, Kurama-kun' when he says that and _I_ get a whack on the head?" Yuusuke demanded, in some indignation.

"That's because _he_ complimented me like a civilized person while _you_ acted like a perverted freak," Botan sniffed haughtily at him. "I really wonder how Keiko-chan puts up with you, Yuusuke."

"That's simple," Yuusuke muttered sourly. "She keeps bashing me over the head with whatever heavy thing she has handy," Yuusuke tone turned even sourer. "Even when I don't really deserve it."

"Well, you most definitely deserved the one that you got today," Botan muttered.

"I just said that she looked hot! Jeez, you try to be considerate..."

"Yuusuke, you asked her if she wanted help to remove her dress!"

"She was sweating!"

"That was only because she was chasing _you_! And you just _had_ to ask her that just when three of her friends had joined you guys, didn't you?"

"Hey, those three were cutting into our quality time together!" Yuusuke defended, hands wide open in a 'don't blame me' gesture.

"Uh-huh. If by 'quality time', you mean making Keiko-chan so mad she can't think straight," Botan retorted back.

Melodious chuckling drew back the two friends' attention back to Kurama, who was looking at the both of them in amusement, green eyes sparkling. Yuusuke and Botan blinked at him, having been so caught up in their heated argument that they'd nearly forgotten the redhead's presence. Yuusuke just grinned back at Kurama, completely unashamed, while Botan looked chagrined, but smiled sheepishly back at the chuckling redhead.

"So, Kurama, how was your day?" asked Yuusuke, as the three of them started walking. Kurama glanced once at Yuusuke, then turned his eyes on the road in front of them.

"It was... interesting," he replied, albeit with a strange tone in his voice that made both Yuusuke and Botan look back at him curiously. Kurama had a half-smile on his face, but his gaze was unfocussed, like he was thinking of something else while his eyes were still trained in front of him.

"Well?" Yuusuke burst out, never being one for being patient in the best of circumstances. "Are you gonna tell us, or not?"

"Yuusuke!" Botan frowned at him.

A small laugh drew their attention to Kurama, who still looked like he knew an inside joke that the others didn't. "No, that's okay," he shook his head, still smiling. "I suppose it _was _lucky that I ran into you. I confess I'm not entirely sure what to do..." he trailed off.

"Kurama, stop speaking in riddles and just tell us, why don't you?" Yuusuke snapped irritably.

Kurama spared an amused glance at him. "I'll get straight to the point then."

"Any time now," Yuusuke rolled his eyes. Kurama shook his head with a small smile and started to speak, turning his eyes back on the road.

"About a week ago, this police inspector had come to talk to me," he started, ignoring the nonplussed stares of his companions. "It was concerning one of the girls who was killed in the attacks that's been occurring recently," he explained. His voice took on a musing tone. "She used to sit next to me in one of my classes."

"Hey, wait up," Yuusuke interrupted. "Do you mean those murders that they're saying is being done by a serial killer, or something?"

Kurama nodded at him. "There's been six murders as of now. All the victims were college students, three males and three females."

"Oh, how awful," murmured Botan, a distressed look on her face.

Yuusuke whistled. "Keiko was talking about it. She heard on the news that the cops were going crazy, coz they couldn't figure out anything about the killer, even by now," Yuusuke turned his eyes back to Kurama. "So what'd they wanna ask you about?"

"Oh, just the usual," Kurama waved a graceful hand in the air. "Anything ususual that I noticed about her behaviour, if she'd told me something, and that sort of thing. He asked me a few questions, thanked me, and left."

"Well, this happened a week ago, didn't it?" Yuusuke interrupted, frowning. "Why are you being all distracted about it now?"

"Yuusuke, you didn't let me finish," Kurama replied patiently. "Today Kaitou came to talk to me between classes," he remarked.

"You mean that soul-stealer?" Yuusuke was still frowning.

Kurama nodded at him. "Apparently, the police have been talking to him as well. Except, of course, they've been asking _him_ something else altogether." Yuusuke and Botan curiously looked at the fox demon, whose entire expression now conveyed great merriment.

Kurama looked at the questioning faces of his friends before casting his thoughts backward. "Well, it was like this..."

-------- x --------

"Minamino-san!"

Kurama turned his head back at the somewhat familiar voice, spotting the features of his high school colleague almost immediately.

"Kaitou-san," Kurama nodded back at him. He had seen the boy a handful of times in campus, but since they didn't have any classes together, they hadn't seen each other very often. "How have you been?"

"Oh, fine, fine," Kaitou nodded back at him. "Do you have any classes right now?" Kurama shook his head, a bit intrigued that Kaitou would seek him out like this. "No, I'm free for an hour," he replied, a question apparent in his voice.

"Oh, good," Kaitou sighed. "Can we go somewhere quiet? I need to talk to you for a moment," he added, eyes flickering at the crowd of students around them.

-------- x --------

"So, Kaitou-san, what's this about?" Kurama asked curiously, when the both of them were situated on a bench in a relatively quiet corner. The bespectacled boy didn't speak for a long moment. Letting out a breath, he finally turned to the demon sitting beside him. "Minamino-san, a policeman came to talk to me earlier this week about the death of a girl. I believe she was in one of your classes?"

Kurama nodded, thinking that he had a hint about where this was going. "Yes, she was. And the police had come to talk to me once as well," he acknowledged.

"Mm-hmm," Kaitou hummed non-committally. "Apparently, now they've got a suspect," he affirmed.

Kurama blinked. "Oh?"

As interesting as this was, he had no idea how this pertained to him. But Kaitou wasn't the sort of person to say anything without a point. Kurama curbed his curiosity and waited patiently.

"They've been by to talk to me three times already," Kaitou elaborated. "They seem to think that the serial murders are being done by someone enrolled in the university itself," Kaitou adjusted his glasses at Kurama's impassive stare. "Someone who has contact with students of their own age group," he clarified.

Kurama was intrigued in spite of himself. "Is that so?" Emerald eyes sparked belatedly at an inconspicuous phrase uttered by the other boy.

_"...They seem to think..."_ Ah.

"By your words, Kaitou-san, I suppose you might not subscribe to that notion?" Kurama asked, a hint of a smile on his lips.

Kaitou half-smiled at Kurama. The human teen would never admit it, but it was rather refreshing to be around someone who picked up on everything as quickly as himself. _Demon, or not, it didn't matter. _

Kaitou didn't answer Kurama's question immediately, choosing instead to continue with his account.

"There was this inspector, name of Nakahara. He seemed especially fixated on one particular student in my talks with him. I was curious, so I looked it up personally, to find out why," he trailed off, eyes on the clouds gently trailing across the sky.

"I must admit, though, I can see why he's so interested," Kaitou acknowledged, as he leaned back on the bench. "The student he's suspects seems to have had at least _some _contact with nearly all of the murder victims. Two were seen at the library at about the same time when the suspect was there just before they were killed, another lived near his house, and two more were in the same classes he is enrolled in, out of which one...," Kaitou stopped then, turning back to Kurama.

"...used to sit right next to him in class," he finished, looking up at the blank face of Kurama, whose eyes were gradually filling with dawning comprehension.

There was a stunned pause in which Kurama turned a blank stare on a smirking Kaitou, who had the satisfaction of seeing that perfect facade crack, even for a brief moment.

Finally, Kurama broke the silence. "Kaitou-san, you cannot be serious," he stated flatly, disbelief colouring every word.

Kaitou shook his head in dark amusement. "I'm afraid I am, Minamino-san. And the thing is..."

-------- x --------

Kurama drew himself out from his thoughts to see Yuusuke and Botan both gazing blankly at him. He didn't blame them for their reaction. Or lack thereof. 

"And that's not all," Kurama continued, one finger thoughtfully tapping his chin. "I checked up the dates and the times when the murders were supposed to have happened, and unfortunately I don't seem to have an alibi for any of them," He turned his gaze to the bewildered faces of his companions. "I was either alone here, or in the Makai," he concluded with a regretful sigh.

Yuusuke was the first to shake himself out of his stupor. "Wait, wait, lemme get this straight," he interjected, with an air of forced calm that didn't completely hide the undertone of disbelief lacing his voice. "Are you telling us that _you_," he bit out, stabbing at the air in front of Kurama with a pointed finger, "are the leading suspect among the cops in the murders that've been happening around here?"

Kurama surveyed the accusing, narrowed gaze of Yuusuke and the wide, dismayed eyes of Botan with more than a touch of amusement. "Why, yes, Yuusuke," he grinned at them. "I do believe I am."

_--- End Chapter. ---_

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A/N: I'm not crazy, I swear. Really. :p 

R&R, please. :-)


	2. Chapter 2

I extend my thanks to all the anonymous reviewers (heartluv, mariangeli, bloodredroseindarkblackflames, Lanie N., and GB) that I couldn't thank personally. : ) :hugs all of you:

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Chapter 2: Routine 

There were a few moments of flabbergasted silence in which Yuusuke and Botan just goggled at Kurama and Kurama simply grinned at them. Yuusuke finally broke the silence. "Kurama, please tell me you're kidding," he demanded, appalled.

Kurama darted a quick grin at Yuusuke before starting to speak. "I had told you that officer Nakahara had come to see me some days ago, right?" he asked Yuusuke and Botan. At their affirmative nods, he continued, "I was rather distracted then, since I'd just been to the Makai to see Yomi the day before. The officer didn't seem to have too many questions, so we didn't talk all that much."

"But still, while talking to him, I did notice that Nakahara had a slightly higher than average Reiki," he admitted. "For a human," he amended, glancing at Yuusuke's raised eyebrow. "Not half as much as Shizuru-san, but even so, I suppose that bit of psychic ability would be rather useful in his chosen profession," he mused.

"Well, that 'little bit of psychic ability'," interrupted Yuusuke snidely, "was definitely no help in _this_ case, was it?" Yuusuke asked, scowling.

"True," admitted Kurama. "However, I don't suppose I can blame him," Kurama looked on in some amusement as Yuusuke's scowl darkened. "He must have realized, at least subconsciously, that there was something different about me." The amusement staining Kurama's gaze sharpened.

"Kaitou told me that during their conversations, he got the distinct impression that Nakahara didn't like me much." Kurama thought back to what Kaitou had told him.

_"...I got the feeling, Minamino-san, that even **he** didn't seem to know the exact reason behind his apparent antipathy towards you..."_

Kurama shook himself out of his thoughts to look back at Yuusuke and Botan. "Apparently, Nakahara had discovered that we were academic rivals in high school and went to Kaitou to try to unearth more about me." Kurama's gaze turned reflective. "He eventually told Kaitou about some of the evidence against me, and prepared the playing field some before asking him some pointed questions. He even went so far as to ask Kaitou whether he thought that I could ever be inclined to kill." Kurama broke off at Botan's dismayed gasp.

"And what did he say?" asked Yuusuke, sharply.

"Kaitou...," Kurama smiled enigmatically before continuing. "He replied that he held true to his belief that I wouldn't kill a human being."

Botan, to her credit, took only a few moments to get it while Yuusuke still looked puzzled before glaring dolefully back at Kurama. "Kurama, translation for the less wordy among us, please?" he asked, snarkily.

Kurama laughed softly. "Yuusuke, he never said that I _couldn't_ kill humans; only that he believed I w_ouldn't_..." Kurama glanced back at them, voice lowering. "Nor," he continued, eyes slanted and hooded, "...did he admit to my having killed any humans in the past."

Kurama felt a small stirring of respect for the human boy. By putting forth his _beliefs_, he had gotten out of admitting actual _facts_. Kurama had a brief flashback to the last human he had killed, the murder that Kaitou had witnessed. The child Amanuma with his fatal games, unwittingly manipulated by Sensui. He gave himself a mental shake and looked over at his companions to see Yuusuke blinking in realization while Botan stifled a small laugh, shaking her head. "He does like to play around with words, doesn't he, Kurama-kun?" she asked with a small smile on her face.

Kurama half smiled at her. "Nearly almost as much as I do, I presume."

Yuusuke let out a snort before fixing his gaze back on Kurama. "So have you thought about what you're gonna do now?"

Kurama let out a chuckle. "No, I'm afraid I haven't decided that yet. After all, I only learnt about all this a couple of hours ago. It wasn't very conducive to focussing on my classes, though..." he trailed off, musing.

Yuusuke snickered. Botan, on the other hand, didn't crack a smile. She was frowning, brows tightly knit together, biting her lip. "Kurama-kun, this is awful! I just hope there's some way of clearing this up before Koenma-sama hears of this..."

"Ah, but Botan," Kurama interrupted her, emerald eyes sparkling in inexplicable amusement. "I haven't told you the real news yet," he responded, voice showing more than a hint of suppressed merriment.

Yuusuke stopped and stared. "You mean there's _more_?" eyes widening at Kurama's answering grin.

Kurama smiled mischeviously at the startled Spirit Detective before he turned his eyes to the sky and started explaining. "Yomi had called me to Makai for a few meetings this past month. Between those and schoolwork, I suppose I've been a bit distracted," he admitted, a ghost of a grin curving his lips.

"But then again, not nearly as distracted not to observe something strange," Kurama continued, eyes flashing with rememberance, "There's someone following me around... I first noticed about two weeks ago."

Yuusuke shot him a quick look. "Demon?" he asked, voice sharp.

Kurama shook his head briefly in the negative. "No, no, a human, I assure you." Kurama narrowed his eyes slightly in recollection for a moment before reaffirming the statement. "Yes, quite human... a man."

"Hey, it's not like _that's_ anything new," Yuusuke interrupted, scoffing. "You've got people following you around like puppy dogs all the time here, don't you?" he grinned at Kurama.

Kurama chuckled. "Yes, I suppose that's true... and that's probably another reason why I didn't notice him around at first. But now that I've thought about it a bit, he's very quiet and unobstrusive... and he's so discreet that sometimes I have a bit of trouble locating him unless I'm actively looking for him," he murmured, eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

Yuusuke glanced once at Botan's similarly baffled expression before responding to the meditative kitsune. "Kurama, while I understand that you've got a problem in regards to being stalked by determined fangirls - "

"And fanboys," interjected Botan.

"And fanboys," Yuusuke agreed, grinning. "I have no clue why you're telling us this when we were talking about your oncoming jail time," he finished, eyebrow quirking.

Kurama glanced at them, flashing a quick smile. "I promise there's a point, Yuusuke."

Yuusuke rolled his eyes but nodded back . "If you say so," he muttered, unconvinced.

Kurama returned his gaze to the road in front of him and continued where he had left off.

"After I had talked to Kaitou today, I paid a bit more attention to my surroundings both when I was in school and out. I recognized this man several times today... he even followed me home partway before I met up with you two."

Botan traded a puzzled glance with Yuusuke, but Kurama hadn't taken his eyes off the road.

"What I found interesting was his ki," Kurama continued, a strange half-smile on his face. "It was cloudy... a sort of dimmed dark-grey, a bit like it was lacking any vitality..." Kurama nodded to himself, eyes thoughtfully scanning the horizon. "Yes, a bit strange by itself, but that wasn't all," he affirmed.

"He never came too close to me, but still, there was no mistake about it," Kurama stated, looking at the curiosity evident on his friends' faces. "He had a very distinctive smell, actually," he commented, face settling into an inscrutable expression. "He reeked," Kurama stated, voice devoid of any feeling before turning back deliberately to look at Yuusuke and Botan. "...of blood."

There was a few seconds of silence in which Kurama looked back at the dumbfounded expressions of Yuusuke and Botan before Botan shook herself out of the mental fog that Kurama's unexpected words had driven her into.

"Kurama-kun," she whispered, deadpan expression clashing with the somewhat desperate edge to her voice. "Don't tell me..." she trailed off, temporarily berefit of words before she bravely started again. "You... you're not telling me that the _real_ killer seems to have _your_ name in his latest hit list," she paused once, apprehension building up in her. "Are you, Kurama-kun?" she pleaded, panic fluttering through her. Botan took one look at Kurama's wicked smirk and felt an instant headache form. She closed her eyes in dread.

"All right." Botan snapped her eyes open at the amused murmur to look at the kitsune. "Since you asked me so nicely... I won't." Kurama smiled toothily at her and a stupefied Yuusuke. "However," he continued, green eyes dancing. "That wouldn't make it any less true."

Botan sighed heavily as she massaged her forehead with her fingers, trying to ward off her rising alarm. She could just _feel_ her headache intensifying by the minute. Oh, why oh _why_ couldn't she just have a _normal_ day off, for once? Would that really be too much to ask? Apparently so. And, of course, she'd have to inform Koenma-sama about all this. Who seemed to have no understanding of the saying, 'don't take it out on the messenger'. She whimpered and mentally groaned in deep despair.

_This was **so **not fair._

_--- End Chapter. ---_

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Hmm. I didn't like the way this chapter came out as much as the first one. Or is it just me? 

R&R, please! Reviews make for a happy lilmatchgirl. :D


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